It is generally known for an underwater camera to include a shutter release button having an elastic construction that permits the shutter release button to be manually depressed to initiate shutter opening. The elasticity of the shutter release button makes it relatively easy to handle or grasp the shutter release button underwater in order to manually depress it. The problem is that the shutter release button is increasingly depressed due to increases in the water pressure as the underwater depth of the camera is increased. Thus, when the camera is submerged to an underwater depth that is greater than the maximum depth at which the shutter release button can withstand the water pressure before caving in to initiate shutter opening, a wasted exposure will be made.
The underwater camera often has an underwater depth gauge that indicates increases in the underwater depth of the camera, but the depth gauge typically operates independently of the shutter release button.